Remembering the Musicians We Rocked Out to & Lost in 2025
The music industry lost some major rockers and rollers, singers and songwriters, leaving behind legacies that shaped generations of sound and culture. We said goodbye to rock icons, country crooners, metal gods, pop superstars, and folk storytellers, including Ozzy Osbourne, Toby Keith, Sly Stone, Connie Francis, and Kris Kristofferson. This year also brought the loss of the architects behind the music, with the passing of famed record producers Quincy Jones, Steve Albini, and Richard Perry. Meanwhile, Detroit rock pioneers MC5 and Motown legends the Four Tops lost their final surviving members.
Read on as we pay tribute to these influential artists and the music that defined their lives and careers.
Wayne Osmond (73)
Born: Aug. 28, 1951
Died: Jan. 1, 2025 (stroke)
Musician, the Osmond Brothers
Brenton Wood (83)
Born: July 26, 1941
Died: Jan. 3, 2025 (natural causes)
Singer/Songwriter, “The Oogum Boogum Song,” “Gimme Little Sign”
Peter Yarrow (86)
Born: May 31, 1938
Died: Jan. 7, 2025 (bladder cancer)
Musician, Peter Paul & Mary, “Puff the Magic Dragon,” “Leaving on a Jet Plane.”
Sam Moore (89)
Born: Oct. 12, 1935
Died: Jan. 10, 2025 (complications following surgery)
Musician/Singer, R&B group Sam and Dave, “Soul Man”
John Sykes (65)
Born: July 29, 1959
Died: Jan. 20, 2025 (cancer)
Musician/ Guitarist, Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake
Garth Hudson (87)
Born: Aug. 2, 1937
Died: Jan. 21, 2025
Musician, the Band, “Up On Cripple Creek”
Olga James (95)
Born: Feb. 16, 1929
Died: Jan. 25, 2025 (complications following a fall)
Actress/Singer, Carmen Jones, The Bill Cosby Show
Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Marianne Faithfull (78)
Born: Dec. 29, 1946
Died: Jan. 30, 2025
Singer, “As Tears Go By,” “Sister Morphine,” Actress, The Girl on a Motorcycle
David Edward Byrd (83)
Born: April 4, 1941
Died: Feb. 3, 2025 (pneumonia)
Famed 1960s psychedelic poster designer for the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane
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Chris Jasper (73)
Born: Dec. 30, 1951
Died: Feb. 23, 2005 (cancer)
Keyboardist and vocalist with the Isley Brothers.
Roberta Flack (88)
Born: Feb. 10, 1937
Died: Feb. 24, 2025 (cardiac arrest)
Muscian/Singer, “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”
David Johansen (75)
Born: Jan. 9, 1950
Died: Feb. 28, 2025 (cancer)
Musician/ Vocalist of the New York Dolls, Buster Poindexter, “Hot Hot Hot”; Actor, Scrooged, Let It Ride
Angie Stone (63)
Born: Dec. 18, 1961 |
Died: March 1, 2025 (car accident)
R&B Singer, female rap group The Sequence “Funk You Up,” “No More Rain (In This Cloud),”
Jesse Colin Young (83)
Born: Nov. 22, 1941
Died: March 16, 2025 (cardiovascular disease)
Musician/Singer, founder of the 1960s band Youngbloods
Johnny Tillotson (86)
Born: April 20, 1939
Died: April 1, 2025 (Parkinson’s disease)
Singer, “Poetry in Motion,” “Send Me The Pillow You Dream On”
Clem Burke (70)
Born: Nov. 24, 1954
Died: April 6, 2025 (cancer)
Musician/ Drummer for Blondie
Jill Sobule (66)
Born: Jan. 16, 1959
Died: May 1, 2025 (house fire)
Singer/Songwriter, “I Kissed A Girl,” “Supermodel”
Charles Strouse (96)
Born: June 7, 1928
Died: May 15, 2025
Composer, Bye Bye Birdie, All in the Family, Annie, Bonnie and Clyde
Rick Derringer (77)
Born: Aug. 5, 1947
Died: May 26, 2025
Musician, “Hang On, Sloopy,” “Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo,” frequently played with Edgar Winter.
Sly Stone (82)
Born: March 15, 1943
Died: June 9, 2025 (COPD)
Musician, founder of Sly and the Family Stone, “Dance to the Music” and “Everyday People”
Brian Wilson (82)
Born: June 20, 1942
Died: June 11, 2025 (respiratory arrest)
Musician, The Beach Boys
Lou Christie (82)
Born: Feb. 19, 1943
Died: June 18, 2025 (cancer)
Singer, “Lightnin’ Strikes,” “Two Faces Have I,”
Mick Ralphs (81)
Born: March 31, 1944
Died: June 23, 2025
Musician, founding member and singer, songwriter, and guitarist of Bad Company and Mott the Hoople.
Bobby Sherman (81)
Born: July 22, 1943
Died: June 24, 2025 (kidney cancer)
Musician, “Julie, Do Ya Love Me,” “Easy Come, Easy Go;” Actor, Here Come the Brides
Lalo Schifrin (93)
Born June 21, 1932
Died June 26, 2025 (pneumonia)
Composer of theme songs for Mission Impossible, Mannix
Ozzy Osbourne (76)
Born: Dec. 3, 1948
Died: July 22, 2025 (heart attack)
Singer, Black Sabbath and solo artist; star of MTV’s The Osbournes; affectionately known as “the Prince of Darkness”
Connie Francis (87)
Born: Dec. 12, 1937
Died: July 16, 2025 (pneumonia)
Singer, “Who’s Sorry Now?,” “Pretty Little Baby”
Chuck Mangione (84)
Born: Nov. 29, 1940
Died: July 22, 2025
Musician/brass instrumentalist behind 1977 album Feels So Good
Mark Volman (78)
Born: April 19, 1947
Died: Sept. 5, 2025 (blood disease)
Musician, cofounder of the Turtles
Rick Davies (81)
Born: July 22, 1944
Died: Sept. 6, 2025 (multiple myeloma)
Musician/ Singer and co-founder of Supertramp
Bobby Hart (86)
Born: Feb. 18, 1939
Died: Sept. 10, 202 (natural causes following a long illness)
Musician/ Songwriter, part of songwriting team Boyce and Hart, songwriter of many Monkees hits
Sonny Curtis (88)
Born: May 9, 1937
Died: Sept. 19, 2025 (pneumonia)
Songwriter/ Musician with Buddy Holly and The Crickets; songwriter of “I Fought the Law” and “Love is All Around,” The Mary Tyler Moore Show theme song
John Lodge (82)
Born: July 20, 1943
Died: Oct. 10, 2025
Musician/ Bassist of the Moody Blues
D’Angelo (51)
Born: Feb. 11, 1974
Died: Oct. 14, 2025 (cancer)
R&B artist, Brown Sugar, Voodoo
Dave Ball (66)
Born: May 3, 1959
Died: Oct. 22, 2025 (prolonged illness)
Musician/ Keyboard player for Soft Cell, “Tainted Love”
Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield
Born: Nov. 16, 1962
Died: Nov. 20, 2025 (long-term respiratory issues)
Musician/ bassist and founder of the Stone Roses
Jellybean Johnson (69)
Born: Nov. 19, 1956
Died: Nov. 21, 2025
Musician/Producer, drummer for Morris Day & the Time
Jimmy Cliff (81)
Born: July 30, 1944
Died: Nov. 24, 2025 (complications due to a seizure and pneumonia)
Singer/Musician reggae star, “The Harder They Come,” “Hurricane Hattie”
Steve Cropper (84)
Born: Oct. 21, 1941
Died: Dec. 3, 2025
Musician/ Guitarist in house band at Stax Records, Booker T. & the M.G.’s
Raul Malo (60)
Born: Aug. 7, 1965
Died: Dec. 8, 2025 (colon cancer)
Musician, the Mavericks
Carl Carlton (72)
Born: May 21, 1953
Died: December 14, 2025
R&B Singer, “She’s a Bad Mama Jama,” “Everlasting Love”
Perry Bamonte (65)
Born: Sept. 3, 1960
Died: Dec. 24, 2025 (short illness)
Musician, guitarist and keyboardist for the Cure from 1990 to 2005
Remind 
Farewell 2025
January 2026
Celebrate the rich lives of the TV & Movie stars we lost in 2025 along with the music makers that created the soundtrack to our lives.
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